Breaking Point
by radredknuxfan
Summary: Mordecai and Rigby have cheated death numerous times ever since they started working at the park. But what happens when an even closer brush with death finally sends them over the edge? Enjoy, and please read & review! Rated T for some swearing and mild violence. (Image created by BlueLightningXD)
1. Chapter 1

Welcome to my new fic, everyone. Surprisingly, this idea came to me while I was on vacation in Florida. (I know, not really a place you'd expect to get ideas from) So, I was actually watching a marathon of Regular Show, and I saw a few of the episodes where Mordecai & Rigby are fighting some type of giant monster, and once they defeat it, life just goes on like nothing, which made me wonder what happened if Regular Show actually had continuity (minus the throwbacks to older episodes, like in "Diary" for instance), and those two constantly risking their lives would end up going somewhere, so that's why we're here. So anyway, I'm done talking, so let's get on with the story.

DISCLAIMER: Everything related to Regular Show is owned by J.G. Quintel and Cartoon Network. Gremlins is owned by Warner Bros.

* * *

As we begin our story, Mordecai and Rigby were on one of their frequent breaks. Currently, they were inside the house watching television. Unfortunately, they ended up choosing one of those shows that only Rigby actually liked, so Mordecai was spending his time lost in thought. Finally, he snapped out of his trance, and turned to Rigby.

"Hey, dude?" said Mordecai.

"Yeah?" said Rigby, his attention still glued to the TV.

"I've been thinking. You know how half the time that we've been working here has been spent fighting giant monsters, evil warlocks with fanny packs, and other things?" asked Mordecai.

"Yeah, so?" said Rigby, still engrossed in the show he was watching. Mordecai groaned and grabbed the remote, flipping the TV off. "Hey!" Rigby yelled. He attempted to make a grab for the remote, but Mordecai, being double his height, easily held it out of his reach.

"Dude, can you listen to me for a second?" asked Mordecai, exasperated.

"Ugh, fine. You're asking the wrong person, though, if this is going to turn into something about your feelings." said Rigby, as he planted himself back on the couch.

"Don't worry, dude, it's not going that way." said Mordecai. "Anyway, we've pretty much been risking our lives almost every other day that we've been working here, and I've just been thinking is it really worth it to be in constant danger, all for making a meager salary. What do you think, dude?"

"I dunno, I've never really thought about that. I'm just happy for the money." said Rigby.

"You've been a big help, dude." said Mordecai sarcastically, as he rolled his eyes.

The sarcasm totally went over Rigby's head, so he just said "Thanks." Mordecai simply rolled his eyes and turned the TV back on.

* * *

It was only a few minutes after their chat that Benson found them and forced them to return to work (once again threatening to fire them), so they were currently to be found raking the leaves.

"Dude, I'm bored!" said Rigby, as he threw down his rake in disgust.

"Come on, dude. Benson's totally going to flip if he sees you not working." said Mordecai.

"So? It's not like it matters. Benson's threatened to fire us hundreds of times, and he still hasn't followed through with it." said Rigby.

"Yeah, I know that. I'd still be more comfortable, though, if we're working. I don't want him to get even angrier at us." said Mordecai.

"Yeah, you do that. I'm going to go for a walk." said Rigby. He followed through with his proclamation, and began walking away.

As much as Mordecai wanted to just leave him for Benson to handle, he didn't want to risk the chance of losing his best friend to unemployment. "Rigby, wait!" he said. Dropping his rake, he raced off after him.

* * *

Mordecai finally caught up with Rigby a few minutes later near the lake. The raccoon was currently staring at a large chest which for some strange reason was on the dock with the key sitting on top of it.

"Dude, what is that?" asked Mordecai, pointing at the chest.

Rigby jumped, unaware that Mordecai was right behind him, and turned around to face the blue jay.

"I don't know. I was walking down here to the lake to rest for a couple minutes when I saw this on the dock." said Rigby.

"Huh. I wonder if somebody must have left it here by mistake." said Mordecai.

"I guess so. Then again, I can't imagine it must have been an accident, when he left the key for it in plain sight." said Rigby as he picked up the key to show to Mordecai.

Mordecai suddenly became apprehensive as he noticed the key. "Dude, I don't trust this. I think you should just leave the chest alone. Hopefully the dude who dropped it will come back for it." he said.

"Don't be silly, bro. It's just an old chest. What makes you think there would be something bad in there?" asked Rigby.

"I dunno, maybe the sign on the side that says 'Do Not Open. Very Dangerous.'" said Mordecai.

Rigby began mulling over his options as he took in what Mordecai said. Shrugging his shoulders, he jammed the key into the lock and turned it sharply to the right, unlocking it.

"No, don't!" yelled Mordecai, trying to stop him, but it was too late. Squeezing his eyes shut, Mordecai waited for the inevitable embrace of death, only for nothing to happen. Mordecai slowly opened his eyes to find Rigby petting what looked like a small, yet very odd-looking dog. It almost looked like a pug, only with horns instead of ears, and a pair of what looked like bat wings attached to its back.

"What is that?" Mordecai warily asked.

Rigby shrugged and gave a noncommittal noise, signifying that he had no idea what it was. "I just found it inside the box. Somehow it managed to survive living inside a box for who knows how long without any air."

"Really? I'm guessing it's probably some kind of magical creature or something. We'd better go ask Skips about this." said Mordecai.

Rigby nodded and the two groundskeepers began making their way over to Skips' house.

* * *

"Hmm. I've seen this before." said Skips, scratching his chin in thought as he looked at the creature that Mordecai and Rigby brought him. "Where did you find this?"

"Out by the lake inside a chest someone dropped on the docks." said Mordecai.

Skips continued thinking, trying to remember exactly where it was he saw it. A few seconds later, he finally remembered. "Oh yeah, I remember now. It doesn't have a name."

"Wait, what? It doesn't have a name?" asked Rigby.

"Yes, it doesn't. Now let me finish, alright?" asked Skips. Rigby clammed up immediately. "Now, have you guys ever seen the movie 'Gremlins'?"

"Yes/No." said Mordecai and Rigby at the same time, respectively.

"Okay then. Mordecai, do you remember the part where they said that you can't feed them after midnight, or they go crazy? Well, this creature here is pretty similar, except way earlier, and it will grow into an enormous size if it happens." said Skips.

Mordecai's eyes widened as he heard what the yeti said. "So, what's the time that you can't feed him after?"

"5 'o clock." said Skips.

"And what time is it now?" asked Mordecai.

"4:55." said Skips.

Mordecai relaxed considerably after hearing that. During the trip over to Skips, they stopped over at the snack bar for a quick snack and Rigby ended up feeding some of his hot dog to the creature. Thankfully, it was well before 5 at that point in time, so they had nothing to worry about.

"Thanks for letting us know, Skips." said Mordecai.

"Yeah, thanks Skips." chimed in Rigby.

"No problem, you guys. Make sure you feed him in the next five minutes, or you're going to have some problems." said Skips.

"Sure thing, Skips." said Mordecai. "Come on, Rigby. Let's go get him something to eat."

"Alright." said Rigby. They both began walking back to the house after waving at Skips, who returned the wave back.

* * *

Thankfully, the trip back to the house didn't take any time at all, so they were easily able to return with time to spare. Unfortunately, Muscle Man cleaned out most of the food in the house over the last few days, so he and High-Five Ghost were assigned grocery duty, which they haven't returned from yet.

Mordecai and Rigby were frantically searching through the cupboards, trying to find something to feed the creature within the next two minutes, but they were having no luck finding anything substantial.

"Dude, we're running out of time!" said Mordecai.

"Let's just give him something! It's not worth trying to find something filling for him." said Rigby.

"Alright!" said Mordecai. He grabbed the closest thing he could find, which was a single banana, and hurriedly peeled it as the remaining minutes continued ticking away. The blue jay broke off a large piece of the banana and held it in front of the creature, who sniffed at it for a few seconds before chomping it down in one bite, nearly biting Mordecai's fingers off. Thankfully, Mordecai pulled his hand away just in time.

Both Mordecai and Rigby looked at the clock that was hanging in the kitchen, to find that it read 4:59 and 59 seconds. The two groundskeepers gave a long sigh of relief after realizing that they made it in time.

The only thing that they didn't take into consideration was the creature's wings. They also failed to consider the fact that bananas aren't very filling at all. So, while Mordecai and Rigby were busy celebrating their success at feeding him on time, the creature immediately began flapping its wings and flew off, landing on the table, where the rest of the banana was still there, ripe for the taking. The creature greedily chomped down the remaining banana in one bite.

After finishing with their celebrating, Rigby went off into the living room, while Mordecai turned around the pick up the creature to carry with him, only for it to not be in its original place. He slowly raised his eye level, eventually finding the creature on the table, having just finished off the rest of the banana. The skin just sat there on the table, almost mocking him for his stupidity in leaving it open right where the creature can get it.

"Oh no." said Mordecai quietly. He suddenly shot off into the living room, yelling "Rigby!"

Rigby once again jumped, not expecting to be yelled at like that. "What?" he said.

"Dude, we are so screwed." said Mordecai, worried sick.

"What? What happened?" asked Rigby.

"We left the banana on the table completely open, and the creature ate it." said Mordecai.

"Oh crap." said Rigby as his eyes widened in shock.

"We've got to get him outside before it starts growing." said Mordecai.

Rigby nodded and rushed back into the kitchen with Mordecai.

* * *

Only a few seconds have passed since the monster ate the banana, so it has only grown a couple of inches, but it was growing fast. Mordecai hurriedly snatched up the creature, which was unexpectedly heavy, before rushing out the back door, Rigby close behind.

Mordecai and Rigby ran as quickly as they could as the monster continued growing and getting heavier and heavier, which was slowing Mordecai down. Finally, they reached a clearing, and Mordecai set the monster down on the ground, before turning to Rigby.

"Dude, what are we going to do?" said Mordecai.

"I don't know! We have to go find Skips!" yelled Rigby.

"Alright, fine. But he's not going to be happy with us. Come on, let's go." said Mordecai, beckoning to Rigby.

Rigby wasn't moving though. He was completely frozen in fear, shaking like a leaf.

"Come on, dude, what are you waiting for?" said Mordecai.

Rigby could only point behind Mordecai. Mordecai turned around, and his beak fell open in shock.

"Oh. My. God."

* * *

**And there we have it! That's the end of the first chapter of Breaking Point! I hope you guys are enjoying it so far, even though this first chapter is pretty much just set up. Don't worry, you guys, the plot will be starting next chapter, although there was a bit of a hint to it at the beginning of this one. So, I will be seeing you guys later for the next chapter, the big monster battle! Bye!**

**RK**


	2. Chapter 2

Welcome to the next chapter of Breaking Point! It's time for plot, so enjoy! Yay!

* * *

"RUN!" Mordecai yelled.

Rigby had already shot off in the opposite direction, so Mordecai followed as best as he could, while the monster chased after them, almost managing to catch up a couple times before Mordecai picked up his pace.

Finally, Mordecai managed to catch up to Rigby, who was on all fours running for dear life.

"I told you that you shouldn't have opened that chest! Now look what you've done!" Mordecai said.

"What do you mean, what have I done? You're the one that didn't hide that stupid banana!" Rigby said.

"Shut up, you hole!" Mordecai said.

"No, you're the hole!" said Rigby.

Rigby then turned towards Mordecai and jumped on top of him, throwing punches into his face while Mordecai was trying to concentrate on prying the raccoon off of him while still running away from the monster. Mordecai eventually slapped Rigby on top of the head, which dazed him long enough that Mordecai was able to pull him off of his head.

Rather than drop him and hope that he starts running again, Mordecai decided to carry Rigby to save some time, a fact that Rigby found incredibly awkward and degrading, but he decided that if he wanted to survive, he should probably stay put.

The long run combined with Rigby's weight eventually began to tire Mordecai out, which allowed the monster to begin to catch up. Thankfully, the cart pulled up just in time to reveal Skips, Benson, Muscle Man, High-Five Ghost and Thomas inside.

"Hop in!" said Skips. Mordecai and Rigby immediately jumped onto the back of the cart, hanging on to the bars that held up the roof.

* * *

"What did you two do?" asked Benson, who was clearly angry at this point.

"Hey, don't blame me! It was Rigby's fault." said Mordecai.

"Shut up!" said Rigby.

"Hey guys! Let's stop blaming each other and figure out what we're supposed to do to get rid of this thing!" said Thomas, wanting to defuse the situation as soon as possible.

"You got an idea, Skips?" asked Mordecai.

"No, not really. Not unless we have a three-story tall microwave somewhere around here." said Skips.

"Damn." said Mordecai under his breath.

"Oh, wait! I do have an idea." said Skips.

"Well? Let's hear it!" said Mordecai.

"We're going to need to find that chest. I think we might be able to return the monster to it somehow." said Skips.

"Uh oh." said Rigby.

"What? What is it?" said Skips.

"Uh, we might have accidentally kicked the chest into the lake." said Mordecai.

"Oh, of all the luck." said Benson. "The only way we can get rid of this monster is at the bottom of the lake. Well, you know what? You two put it in the lake, so you two are getting it out of the lake!"

"But…" said Rigby.

"No buts, Rigby! I don't want to hear it." said Benson, holding up a hand to punctuate his point. "Skips, head for the lake."

Skips made the turn and began heading towards the lake.

A few minutes passed as the occupants of the cart sat in silence while keeping their distance from the monster, before Thomas decided to pipe in.

"I want to help Mordecai and Rigby get the chest out of the lake." said Thomas. Everyone's eyes widened in surprise at this proclamation. None of them expected something like this out of Thomas, considering he's only experienced this kind of work for a few weeks.

"What? Really? Are you sure, Thomas?" asked Mordecai.

"Yeah, I'm sure. No offense, Rigby, but I doubt that you would be much help in lifting the chest." said Thomas.

Rigby glared at him, but said nothing.

"I also really want to get involved with what you guys do around here. Hell, this might actually be pretty exciting!" said Thomas.

"Well, if you're sure about it, Thomas, then I guess you can help those two." said Benson, still a little wary.

* * *

The gang finally reached the lake a few minutes later with the monster still in pursuit.

"Alright, you guys. We can't stop, so you're going to have to jump off. You ready?" said Skips. Mordecai, Rigby and Thomas all nodded, before getting ready for the jump. "Three…two…one…jump!"

The two employees and the intern jumped off of the moving cart and rolled out of the way before quickly getting up and getting out of the monster's path. They ran as quickly as they could towards the dock, before finally reaching it and catching their breath.

"You guys ready to go?" asked Mordecai.

"Yeah." said both Thomas and Rigby.

"Jinx!" said Rigby.

"Quit it!" said Mordecai, punching Rigby in the shoulder.

"Owww…" said Rigby as he started rubbing his shoulder.

Mordecai slowly breathed in and out, mentally preparing himself for the dive, while Rigby and Thomas followed suit, before…

"Oh! Hang on. We should probably take these out." said Mordecai, removing his walkie-talkie from his person and placing it on the dock. Thomas didn't have one, so Rigby was the only one who followed Mordecai's lead.

After the three mentally prepared themselves again, Mordecai held up his hand and curled two fingers down, leaving three. As Thomas and Rigby watched intently, Mordecai lowered his fingers, counting down from three. When he reached zero, the three of them let in a deep breath and held it, before diving into the water.

* * *

The lake was one of those bodies of water that looks like it's not as deep from the outside, but when you go inside, it's huge, which is a fact that does not work in Mordecai, Rigby and Thomas's favor. Thankfully, the chest actually sunk straight down when it was kicked overboard, so they didn't need to worry about searching.

The three of them swam down towards the chest as quickly as they could, while avoiding tiring themselves out so they could retain oxygen. After finally reaching the chest, Mordecai and Thomas grabbed each of the handles that were on the sides. After lifting the chest up, Rigby slithered under the chest and started pushing from the bottom. It was a tough trip, because of how deep they actually went, combined with the weight of the chest, but they eventually made it to the surface with seconds to spare.

The three swam towards shore, carrying the chest between them, and dragging it onto the grass. They once again spent a few minutes to catch their breath.

"Wow, that was easier than I thought it would be." said Rigby.

"Yeah, no kidding." said Thomas.

"Come on, let's go call Benson and the others." said Mordecai.

Mordecai jogged over to the dock and grabbed his walkie-talkie.

"Benson, come in. Are you there?" asked Mordecai.

There was a few seconds of static before Benson finally said "Yes, we're here. Did you get the chest?"

"Yeah, we got it." said Mordecai.

"Alright. We're going to lead the monster back towards the lake. When I give you guys the signal, you open the chest, and we hope for the best." said Benson.

"Gotcha." said Mordecai.

The static returned, signaling that Benson has cut off the communications. Mordecai sighed and returned to Rigby and Thomas.

"Alright guys, Benson and the others are going to lead the monster back here to the lake. Once he signals us, we're going to open the chest up and hopefully the monster will be sucked back into the box. Then we can chuck it back into the lake for good." said Mordecai.

"That's all well and good, but what if it doesn't work?" asked Thomas.

"Then we're screwed." said Mordecai.

Thomas gulped, while Rigby was looking at both of them with a worried expression on his face.

"Oh, and here's your walkie-talkie back, Rigby." said Mordecai. Rigby took it back with a slightly shaking hand.

* * *

A few minutes passed while the three of them sat in silence around the chest, before Mordecai's walkie-talkie once again crackled to life.

"Mordecai, come in." said Skips.

"Yeah, what's up, Skips?" asked Mordecai.

"We're almost at the lake. Get ready to open the chest on my signal." said Skips.

"Come on, you guys." Mordecai said to Rigby and Thomas, who took their positions around the chest. Mordecai and Rigby took one side, while Thomas took the other side.

Soon enough, the cart came over the hill, with the monster once again close behind. The three of them watched as the cart came closer, until…

"Now!" yelled Skips through the radio.

Mordecai, Rigby and Thomas threw open the chest as hard as they could. A bright light issued from the chest before a large magical tornado appeared. The power that the tornado gave off was huge. It was sucking in practically anything that wasn't bolted down or weighted down. The cart just happened to be in the latter category, while the group at the chest was forced to hang on to the dock for dear life as the monster finally got caught in the vortex's pull.

The monster flapped furiously as it tried to escape the vortex, but it was too strong, even for someone at its size. Undeterred, it grabbed at the closest thing it could get at, which horrifyingly ended up being Mordecai and Rigby.

Both of them screamed as they were pulled off of the dock, but they barely managed to grab hold of the edges of the chest, holding on for dear life as the monster attempted to pull them in with him.

"MORDECAI! RIGBY!" yelled Thomas in shock. He rushed over to the chest (thankfully the vortex has disappeared, so he didn't need to worry about getting pulled in himself). He grabbed both of their hands and pulled with all of the strength that he could manage. Surprisingly, he was actually putting up a fight with the monster, but neither side could get the advantage.

Soon enough, though, the rest of the park gang rushed over to the chest and gave their assistance, also grabbing Mordecai and Rigby's hands. The extra pull was what was needed to finally give way, as Mordecai and Rigby flew out of the chest. Thomas rushed over and shut the lid, before pushing it off the dock, never to be seen again.

Thomas walked back over to the group, who were all busy checking up on Mordecai and Rigby. Thankfully, they were relatively unhurt, except for bite marks and scratches all over their legs. Mordecai's ankle was also twisted pretty badly, but it wasn't anything to really worry about, at least in terms of physical injury.

The only real problem was that they were shaking furiously. Their arms were crossed like they were freezing, and the expression on their face was one of sheer terror.

Skips and Benson were both standing over Mordecai and Rigby, trying to ask whether they were alright, but neither of them responded.

"We'd better take them both back to the house." said Benson.

Skips agreed with a nod, and grabbed Mordecai, being careful not to aggravate his injured ankle. Thomas took care of grabbing Rigby, carrying him bridal style, as they returned to the cart.

As they made their way back to the house, Thomas couldn't help but wonder just what happened to those two inside that chest to frighten them so badly.

* * *

**And that's it for Chapter 2! Yay, I put Thomas in! So, I hope that you guys have enjoyed reading this chapter as much as I did writing it. To be honest, I was actually kind of looking forward to writing this chapter, because for one thing, I was interested in seeing what I could do writing a monster battle. Also, I really wanted to get the plot moving as well. The only thing that really worries me, though, is that I'm not completely sure where I want to go with this next. I wouldn't worry too much, though. There's time for me to think about it, considering I've got three other fics to work on.**

**Anyway, next time we're going to be finding out just what happened to Mordecai and Rigby inside that chest, so we'll be seeing you then! Bye!**

**RK**


	3. Chapter 3

Got nothing really important to say, so I'll just say this. Enjoy!

* * *

A few minutes after the group left the lake, they finally reached the house and Skips and Benson went back to carrying Mordecai and Rigby respectively. Thomas looked over at them with worry and found that the ride to the house seemed to have calmed them down a bit, as they've stopped shaking. Unfortunately, the scared looks on their faces were still there, a fact that unnerved Thomas greatly.

As they entered the house, Skips and Benson carried Mordecai and Rigby upstairs and into their room while Thomas, Muscle Man and High-Five Ghost sat on the couch. Nobody said a word as they waited with bated breath, hoping that those two would be okay.

Eventually, Benson and Skips made their way back downstairs and stood in front of the rest of the group.

"Alright you guys, we've put Mordecai and Rigby in their beds. I'm going to call a doctor. Hopefully, they'll be able to figure out what's wrong with them. But in the meantime, I want you guys to leave them be. Is that clear?" said Benson.

"Absolutely." said Thomas.

"Sure, bro." said Muscle Man.

"Uh-huh." said Fives.

"Okay then. Now if you'll excuse me, I have a call to make." said Benson, who exited the room as quickly as he could.

* * *

Meanwhile, after Skips took a seat on one of the chairs, the tense silence returned to the living room, as none of the guys knew what to say. Eventually, Thomas decided to speak up.

"I hope that they're going to be okay."

"Don't worry. They're tougher than you think." said Skips.

"Yeah but, did you see the looks on their faces after we pulled them out of the chest? They looked completely traumatized!" said Thomas.

"You've got a point there." said Fives.

"True, but they've been through a lot ever since they started working here. I doubt that a regular old monster attack would do that to them." said Muscle Man.

"Look, I appreciate you guys trying to downplay this whole situation, but I'm still really worried about them. I'm gonna go check up on them." said Thomas.

"Dude, Benson told us to leave them alone!" said Fives, who floated in front of Thomas's face as he attempted to get up.

"I don't care." said Thomas. "I'm not going to feel any better until I'm sure they're going to be okay. Besides, I was with them when they were dragged into the chest. I'm sure you guys can't imagine the amount of guilt I'm feeling right now knowing that they're in this state because I wasn't there for them!"

Thomas pushed aside Fives before making his way upstairs. Fives tried to float after him to stop him, but Skips held up a hand, signifying that he should let it go, which Fives did reluctantly.

* * *

Thomas slowly snuck his way through the hallway, trying not to make any noise and get caught by Benson, who would no doubt hear it considering how quiet the house is. Despite having never actually been upstairs during his time working at the park, Thomas was able to discern Mordecai & Rigby's room from the other doors in the hall, as the door was the only one that was actually slightly open.

Thomas crept over to the door, taking wide but light steps, and eventually found his way to the door. He opened the door as slowly as he possibly could and slipped inside to find Mordecai & Rigby fast asleep in their beds. It almost looked like they were completely normal, but Thomas knew that wasn't the case. For instance, Mordecai's twisted ankle was propped up on a couple of pillows, and Thomas could clearly see the bite marks through the leg that was showing. Skips apparently managed to stem the bleeding while he and Benson were in this room, but there were still splotches of Mordecai's blood on the sheets, staining the pristine white color.

Thomas gave Mordecai a look-over, looking for anything out of the ordinary past what has already happened to him, but found nothing. Confident that the blue jay was going to be alright, Thomas turned to Rigby, and was surprised to see that the raccoon was sleeping on a rusty old trampoline. He also saw a large pile of dirty laundry a few feet away from the trampoline, which puzzled Thomas, as he never saw Mordecai and Rigby wearing any clothes. Unfortunately it didn't occur to him what the real purpose of the clothes was, as he saw that Rigby was also covered by a slightly blood-stained sheet.

After looking Rigby over and finding nothing, Thomas softly smiled, happy that nothing life-threatening happened to them, and crept his way out of their room. He closed the door part way and began making his way back downstairs, when a loud creak suddenly reverberated through the hallway as Thomas stepped on a board too hard. The goat froze, hoping that no one heard it. He waited a few seconds to see if someone was coming upstairs, but no one did. He let out a sigh of relief before finishing his trek downstairs, about to sit back down on the couch when…

"Thomas!"

"Oh crap." Thomas thought to himself as he looked over in the direction of the kitchen to find a steaming mad Benson.

"What were you doing upstairs?"

Thomas stuttered, unable to form a coherent sentence to explain himself, when Skips stepped in.

"Listen, Benson, Thomas was really worried about Mordecai and Rigby. Can you really blame a guy for wanting to find out if his friends were okay?"

"He blatantly disobeyed my orders!" said Benson.

"Calm down, bro! He didn't do anything to hurt them. Right, Thomas?" said Muscle Man.

"Right! They're still fast asleep and untouched."

Benson took a moment and calmed himself down. As his gumballs returned to their normal shade, he finally spoke up.

"Alright, fine. I'll let this go. But please leave those guys alone. They've been through a traumatic experience, and I don't want anything to get worse before the doctor gets here."

The group nodded in understanding before Benson went upstairs to do some paperwork in his office.

* * *

A few weeks have passed since the incident, and the park has mostly returned to normal, outside of Mordecai being forced to walk on crutches. The doctor pretty much confirmed what Thomas found out during his excursion that all Mordecai & Rigby suffered was some cuts and bruises, as well as Mordecai's twisted ankle. He did refer them to a psychiatrist, which they have been going to for the past few days, despite both of them thinking of how stupid it was.

During the last session they were at, the psychiatrist suggested that they were at a stage where he felt that they could finally be able to confront their fears and tell what happened inside that chest, not just to him, but to their coworkers. The two groundskeepers, despite their reservations, agreed and recounted their story to the psychiatrist. Once they finished, the psychiatrist decided to let them go early so they could tell the story again to their coworkers, which is the situation they find themselves in currently.

The entire park gang was sitting in the living room (including Pops) around Mordecai and Rigby, as they mentally prepared themselves to recount their story one more time.

"Alright, I think we're ready to go." said Mordecai, after receiving a glance from Rigby. Sighing, Mordecai began to tell the story.

"You know how the lake is way bigger on the inside than on the outside? Well, it was kind of the same way inside the chest. Although, to be honest, I'm not sure how Rigby managed to get the monster out of the chest in the first place with it being so big."

"It was a normal sized chest when I was looking in it at first." said Rigby.

"Right. Anyway, as the monster was dragging us in, we were wildly grabbing at anything we possibly could before we got dragged in completely. And as you guys saw, we latched onto the edge of the chest." said Mordecai.

"Our heads weren't really too far into the chest, but from what we could see, it was enormous inside the chest. It looked almost like that Dizzy world we were in that one time." said Rigby.

Pops nodded, as he remembered being inside that world.

"This world wasn't populated by realistic looking versions of us, though. It was much, much worse. Bottom line was that we were pretty much in hell, or at least some facsimile of it." said Mordecai.

"Once we saw the area we were in, we thought we were dead, or at least were going to die and go to hell. It was almost like the monster was like some kind of Cerberus, dragging us down to the fire, where we would spend the rest of eternity. And that scared us. It scared us real good. I imagine it would scare anyone, really." said Rigby.

"Thankfully, you guys were here to save the day, and pulled us out, but not before the monster took some nice chunks out of us and broke my ankle. Let me tell you, if I wasn't so scared at that point, I would have been bawling my eyes out from the pain. I'm not afraid to admit that. The pain was horrible." said Mordecai.

"Anyway, that's pretty much what happened. Thanks for listening, guys. It's nice getting this whole thing off our chests." said Rigby.

Pops looked visibly nervous after hearing that story, but he hid it well as he tried to be brave for the boys.

The rest of the group stood up and went their separate ways after comforting Mordecai & Rigby, who looked visibly shaken after remembering the events of the incident.

After everyone left, Mordecai and Rigby laid back on the couch in silence, reflecting. A few minutes later, Mordecai turned towards Rigby.

"Hey dude?"

"Yeah?" asked Rigby.

"You know, I've been thinking." said Mordecai.

"About what?" asked Rigby.

"About this job. We've been risking our lives since day one working here, and I'm tired of it. I want a job that's actually something safe." said Mordecai.

Rigby turned towards Mordecai with a confused look on his face.

"Wait, what are you getting at?" asked Rigby.

"I want to leave."

* * *

**Shocker! Mordecai wants to quit? What will everyone else think of this?**

**Anyway, that's the end of Chapter 3. I hope that you guys have enjoyed it, and I'll be seeing you guys next time for the fallout of Breaking Point! See ya.**

**RK**


	4. Chapter 4

Time for a new Breaking Point chapter! I know you guys are all wondering what's gotten in to Mordecai, so enjoy!

* * *

"You're quitting?"

"Yeah! I'm sick of risking my life almost every day I'm here. I want to actually be able to live past twenty-three, but I probably won't be able to if I keep working here." said Mordecai.

"Are you sure you don't want to change your mind? I mean, what about the guys? We're almost like a family here, and you want to just throw that away just so you can feel safer at night?" asked Rigby.

That sentence gave Mordecai pause for a moment, as he realized that he never even considered the other guys. Benson and Muscle Man could be jerks sometimes, but even they (along with everyone else) were cool guys to be around outside of work.

"Listen, think about it for a while and let me know what you want to do tomorrow. I'm just looking out for you, bro. I don't want you to make a big mistake." said Rigby.

Mordecai didn't reply, instead heading upstairs to bed lost in thought, weighing the pros and cons of leaving or not.

Meanwhile, Rigby was following close behind him, and as he laid down on his trampoline, he couldn't help but give a worried look at Mordecai.

* * *

Ever since the incident, Mordecai and Rigby have been plagued by nightmares of what was inside the chest, which has kept them from being able to get a good night's sleep. The psychiatrist thankfully has been able to curb Rigby's nightmares through their sessions, but Mordecai hasn't completely been able to get rid of those thoughts.

So the next morning was met with a weary and tousle-haired Mordecai, who was up all night trying to decide what to do about his job, while being unable to sleep thanks to the nightmares. Rigby was on the complete opposite side of the spectrum, being well-rested and relatively clean looking.

"Morning, dude. Woah, what happened to you?"

"Couldn't sleep. Nightmares kept me up." said Mordecai.

"Wow, that sucks. We really should get you some more sessions with the psychiatrist dude. I'll go talk to Benson about it."

"There's no point. I'm still quitting."

Rigby's face fell after hearing that.

"Well, if that's what you really want to do, I'm not going to stop you. I'm coming with you, though."

"What? Oh, no dude, you don't have to quit your job for me." said Mordecai.

"Hey, I'm not taking no for an answer. We're bros, remember? Bros stick together, no matter what." said Rigby, as he put his hand on Mordecai's shoulder.

"Are you sure, dude? This is your only chance to back out." said Mordecai.

Rigby just nodded.

"Alright, I'm gonna try and get a bit of sleep. Would you mind telling everyone in a couple of hours to meet me in the living room?" said Mordecai through a stifled yawn.

"Yeah, sure." said Rigby.

As Mordecai laid back down on his bed, Rigby made his way out of the room, but not before looking back at Mordecai's still form on his bed and sighing greatly.

* * *

Thankfully, it was a day off, so Rigby had some free time to spend before the big meeting. Unfortunately for him, nothing could really distract him from the fact that these were the last few hours he was ever going to spend inside the house. As much as he tried to engross himself in the movie he was currently watching on the television, the thoughts continued to creep up, so much so that his resolve failed him and the tears began to fall.

Rigby continued to cry as he went through each of his fellow coworkers and realized just how much he was going to miss them. He really didn't want to leave, but he didn't want to be separated from his best friend. Thankfully, no one came into the room, so Rigby was able to let out his emotions in peace.

A couple of hours later, everyone was once again congregated in the living room, wondering what was going on. The only person missing from the group was Mordecai, but it wasn't long before the blue jay made his way down the steps and sat next to Rigby.

"Alright Mordecai, what do you want to tell us now?" asked Benson.

Mordecai took a couple of seconds to collect his thoughts before finally speaking up.

"First, I want to say that it's been great working with you guys the past couple of years. You guys are almost like our second family. But ever since the incident a couple of weeks ago, I've been thinking. We've all been risking our lives almost every day that we've ever worked at this park. I've admittedly never thought about the fact that we might actually get killed being here until the incident. So, I regret to inform you all that as of now, Rigby and I no longer wish to work here."

The consensus around the room was of shock. Absolutely no one expected to hear this coming out of Mordecai or Rigby's mouth.

"But, why would you want to leave?" asked Pops. "I've always had the impression that you loved working here, especially with us."

"Oh, believe me. We do love being here. Mordecai and I want to be able to live past twenty-three years old, and I'm sorry to say that as long as we're still working here, I don't think that will be possible." said Rigby.

"We're going to miss you guys." said Skips.

"Yeah, bros. As much as Fives and I were ripping on you, we still liked you guys as friends." said Muscle Man.

"If you guys ever want to come back, we'll leave the door open for you." said Benson.

"Thanks, guys." said Mordecai.

"Yeah, thanks." said Rigby.

Everyone in the room then joined together to trade hugs with Mordecai and Rigby, except for Thomas, who opened the front door and went outside to think.

As Mordecai and Rigby were heading out the front door for the final time, they looked back and lifted one of each of their hands up in the universal sign of farewell.

"Goodbye, you guys." said Mordecai and Rigby.

None of them replied back. They instead waved back at them, unable to say anything without becoming choked up.

As the two walked out the door, Thomas spoke up from off to the side.

"Hey, you guys?"

"Yeah, dude?" said Mordecai.

Thomas walked up in front of them and paused for a second, before grabbing both of them in his own hug.

"I'm going to miss you guys."

"Yeah, me too." said Rigby.

As Mordecai and Rigby walked off towards the park's exit, Thomas couldn't help but sniff as he tried to hold back the tears. One managed to escape, though, as it fell down his face. Thomas sighed, before heading back inside to face the rest of the group.

* * *

As Mordecai and Rigby were walking down the path towards the town, neither of them really knew what to say. Both of them were feeling incredibly depressed after leaving their "family" behind, but they knew something had to be done if they were going to live long lives. Finally, Rigby decided to speak up.

"So, what do we do now?"

"Let's go to the coffee shop. I could go for something to eat." said Mordecai.

"Alright." said Rigby, unable to muster any good feelings to tease him about his real reason for going to the coffee shop.

* * *

It was a slow day at the coffee shop. There was only one other set of customers besides them, which Eileen happened to be taking care of at the moment, so Margaret was free to spend more time than usual with them.

"Hey, guys!" she said, as cheerful as ever.

"Oh, hey Margaret." said Mordecai.

"What's wrong, you guys?" asked Margaret, noticing Mordecai's glum demeanor.

"We quit our jobs." said Rigby.

"What? Why?" asked Margaret, surprised to hear him say that.

"It's for safety reasons. I'd rather not go into any detail, because I don't think you'll really believe me." said Mordecai.

Margaret nodded, choosing not to press Mordecai any further.

"So, what are you guys going to do about getting new jobs?"

"I dunno yet. We just left the park, so we haven't really thought about where we want to go."

"Well, you could work here. I can talk to my boss and see if he can get you two work." said Margaret.

"I'd like to, but I really don't want to impose on you and Eileen. No offense."

"It's no problem." said Margaret. "So, anything I can get you guys?"

"Rigby and I will just have two coffees and a basket of fries. We need to save our money until we can get new jobs."

"Coming right up." said Margaret, as she turned away to fill their order, but not before Mordecai interrupted once again.

"Hey Margaret, do you guys have any newspapers around?"

"Sure. There's a stack over by the front door." said Margaret, before leaving to get their orders.

Mordecai walked over to the front door and found a stack of fresh newspapers, exactly where Margaret said they would be. He grabbed a paper from the top of the pile and returned to his seat, before flipping it open to the Help Wanted section and placing it on the table.

"Dude, I just thought of something. We're not going to be able to afford to rent an apartment or anything. Where are we going to find a job that gives away free room and board?" asked Rigby.

"I dunno, dude. I guess we'll have to keep an eye out for that in here."

Mordecai and Rigby took the next few minutes looking through the paper, hoping to find a job with the benefits that they need, without any success so far.

Their orders eventually came in, this time delivered by Eileen, who agreed to deliver the order so she could get some details from Mordecai and Rigby.

"Here you go, you guys."

"Thanks, Eileen." said Mordecai.

"Margaret tells me that you guys are looking for a new job. Mind if I can help you guys out?"

"Thanks, but we have it under control." said Rigby.

"Oh, okay. Are you guys doing alright, though?" asked Eileen.

"We'll live." said Mordecai, and Eileen left. She couldn't help but feel a little bit worried, though, as there was something nagging in the back of her mind that something was really up with those two.

As Mordecai and Rigby were chowing down on their fries and drinking their coffees, they continued to skim down the paper, until Rigby's eyes landed on just the ad he was looking for.

"Ah ha! I've found one!"

"Where?" asked Mordecai.

"Over here." said Rigby, who had his finger on said ad.

Mordecai looked over to where Rigby was pointing at, and his eyes widened in surprise.

"East Pines?!"

* * *

**And that's the end of Chapter 4! Will Mordecai and Rigby end up working at East Pines, despite their history while still at the old park? Find out next time!**

**Anyway, I hope you guys have enjoyed reading this, even though it's depressing as shit. But still, that's the way it's going, so yeah. So, I would like to wish you guys a Happy New Year, and I will see you all in 2013 with a new chapter of Breaking Point! See ya.**

**RK**


	5. Chapter 5

Okay, change of plans. Since no one's put any reviews on the last chapter of RDS I put up, that story's going on hiatus, and I'll start work again on This Empty Feeling. I think I might probably do some Fanfiction Rotation stories as well, if I feel like doing one. Anyway, that's for later. Now, it's time for a new chapter of Breaking Point. Enjoy!

* * *

"What's wrong with East Pines?"

Mordecai gave Rigby a look that said what needed to be said.

"Okay, so there's Gene, but it's not like it's going to be any worse than just having to deal with him. Besides, this was the only other job in the area that has room and board. We'd have to move out of town to find any other places like this! What would you say to Margaret if you and I had to move out?"

Mordecai sighed, defeated.

"Alright, I guess we'd better make our way over there."

Mordecai and Rigby paid for their meals and headed out the door after they told Margaret and Eileen they would see them later.

* * *

East Pines is normally not all that far from the old park, at least if you have some form of transportation to use. Unfortunately for Mordecai and Rigby, they don't have any, thanks to their lack of funds. So, what normally was only a fifteen-minute trip ended up taking forty-five minutes, since they had to walk their way over.

Eventually, they did reach the quite imposing gates of the East Pines Park, and collapsed off to the side, completely out of breath.

"Dude, we finally made it." said Rigby through gasps of air.

"I know, let's just rest for a couple of minutes before we head in."

The two did just that, leaning up against the wall and panting, trying to catch their breath.

After the few minutes passed, Mordecai and Rigby stood up again and nervously straightened themselves out, trying to look presentable in front of Gene (or whoever conducted the interview).

Finally satisfied, the two ex-groundskeepers made their way inside the park. The ad wasn't very helpful when it came to instructions on where to go, but they assumed that they were probably meant to head towards the station that towered over the entirety of the park.

Before they could reach it, Rigby suddenly tripped, falling flat on his face.

"You okay, dude?"

"Owww…" said Rigby, rubbing his nose as he got back up. "What the hell did I trip over?"

Mordecai searched around the area where Rigby was standing and found a trip wire strung across the entrance to the clearing they were standing in.

"Uh oh."

"What? What happened?"

Rigby got his answer a few seconds later, as a ring of guards suddenly appeared around the perimeter of the clearing, brandishing their weapons. In the middle of the group was Gene, who was making his way towards them while chuckling.

"So. It seems that our friends here from the other park are engaging in a little game of sabotage, even after we called off the prank war. So tell me why I shouldn't have you put down right now."

Mordecai panicked and blurted out the first thing that came to his mouth.

"We need jobs!"

Gene's eyes widened in mild surprise, before he motioned for the guards to lower their weapons and walked over to Mordecai and Rigby, who were busy cowering where they stood. Kneeling down, he spoke to the two boys.

"What's this I hear? You need jobs? Something happen over there at that other park?"

Rigby shook his head and tried to speak.

"No, nothing. We just quit for safety reasons."

"And what would those 'safety reasons' consist of?" asked Gene.

"Uh, the giant monster kind?" said Mordecai.

Gene looked at Mordecai for a few seconds, slightly confused, before he stood up and addressed the two.

"Well, since I know for a fact that you two have experience in groundskeeping, I don't feel the need to go through the interview process."

Gene held out a hand.

"Congratulations. Welcome to East Pines."

Mordecai and Rigby looked at each other before finally realizing what happened, and they both took turns shaking Gene's hand.

* * *

After they were officially hired, Mordecai and Rigby went through a pretty extensive orientation process and were eventually fitted with their own uniforms. According to one of the videos they watched, new recruits were given a simple t-shirt with the logo on it and pants, and they had to work their way up to earn the uniforms that they guards they've seen wear all the time.

The first few weeks of their new job were as bad as it could get for them, as East Pines just happens to follow the "Starter Pack" rules, so the days were marked with multiple instances of hazing, practical jokes, and other things. Mordecai and Rigby soldiered through it, while also gaining a little newfound respect for what Thomas went through during his initiation.

The two groundskeepers were given a pin after completion of their initiations. These were meant to mark levels towards their next set of clothes. Every five pins gets them a new level and better clothes.

The first pin was about all they could get to, though, as their slacker tendencies came back in force. There was only one television in the park, which wouldn't be so bad if it wasn't for the fact that TV watching limits were strictly enforced under penalty of immediate termination of their jobs, which even Mordecai and Rigby were smart enough to realize.

They were pretty smart, though, and they found ways to skip working. It almost felt to them like they were back at the old park, minus the daily monster attacks, which they were only too happy not to have to worry about.

The only real problem for them, besides the constant yelling they had to endure from Gene, was that employees of East Pines were prohibited from leaving the premises outside of special circumstances. Mordecai and Rigby were clearly unhappy to hear that that rule was in effect, considering they would be unable to visit the coffee shop or the old park.

They tried to do the right thing and convince Gene to bend the rules a bit so they could at least visit the coffee shop, but Gene (being the jerk that he was) refused to make any changes, so the two were forced to take drastic measures.

They spent the next few days spying on Gene and the guards, trying to get an idea of what their schedules were like. Thankfully, they all stuck pretty rigidly to them, so they managed to figure out a good time to sneak off each day to take care of their visits to the coffee shop.

* * *

The schedules for Gene and the guards allowed them to have two hours of time where they felt safe enough to sneak off, so unfortunately their time was relatively restricted if they didn't wish to get caught. So, most of their "free time" was spent catching up with Margaret, mostly involving how much they didn't like Gene.

Speaking of Margaret, she wasn't aware at first of the fact that they began working at East Pines, so the first time they showed up wearing the basic uniforms, she admittedly was surprised to see them like that, especially wearing clothes in the first place. But as the visits accumulated, she got used to the fact that they were dressed like that and spent their time catching up.

"So, I've been kind of wondering. Why is it that you guys can only stay for a half-hour each time you're here?" asked Margaret during their most recent visit.

Mordecai actually had yet to tell Margaret about the reason for their restricted visits due to the fact that he wasn't sure what she would think about it. She at first wasn't too worried about it. She was just happy to see them here. But nowadays, she was beginning to get a little suspicious of the fact that they always had to leave so abruptly.

Mordecai paused for a second, nervously scratching at the back of his neck while he tried to figure out the best course of action to get out of this mess. Finally, he decided it was probably best to tell the truth.

"Well, uh…we're not exactly allowed to leave the park except under extreme circumstances. We tried convincing our boss to let us go, but he refused. So we had to sneak off so we can see you guys."

Margaret also paused as she took in Mordecai's confession, unsure of what to think.

"Wow, you guys must have it pretty rough over there."

"You don't know the half of it." said Rigby.

Mordecai checked his watch and his jaw dropped as he realized what time it was.

"Dude, we're late!"

"Oh crap!" said Rigby.

"Sorry Margaret, we have to go. We'll see you later."

Mordecai and Rigby rushed out the door as quick as they could and ran all the way back to the park.

* * *

They finally reached the park a little while later, and they began making their way back to where they were working before, hoping that they still had some time left before their free period was over.

In their panicked state, however, they were unable to concentrate to avoid the security measures and Rigby once again tripped over one of the trip wires, setting off the silent alarm inside the command center, where Gene just happened to be located at the moment. The vending machine made his way over to the security feed and saw the two slackers hurriedly run off after Mordecai picked Rigby up off of the ground.

Gene had just about had enough with those two. He thought for a moment about firing those two, but decided against it, as another idea popped inside his head. It admittedly was something that he only used as a last resort, but he knew that if he was going to finally get those two to work, he had to do it.

Gene made his way down from the command center and got in one of the carts, driving to where Mordecai and Rigby were working. As he pulled up to his destination, he saw them hurriedly raking the leaves, ripping apart many of them in the process. After pinching his nose and sighing in disgust, Gene spoke up.

"Alright, you two. Stop what you're doing right now!"

Mordecai and Rigby jumped, not noticing Gene show up, and dropped their rakes on the ground, standing in front of the vending machine.

"Would you mind explaining to me why I saw you on the cameras not working?"

Mordecai and Rigby both opened their mouths, but they were unable to say anything.

"Well?" asked Gene.

Still no reply came from them.

"Well, I really wish it didn't have to come to this. Follow me."

Mordecai and Rigby nervously looked at each other.

"Are you going to fire us?" asked Mordecai.

"No, I'm not. I've got something better for you, though." said Gene.

Mordecai and Rigby both gulped, before they followed Gene into the cart.

Eventually, the trio pulled up to a mysterious building on the outskirts of the park. The lack of use of this building led to it falling into disrepair, but the important things were still functioning.

Mordecai and Rigby stood in front of the building for a few seconds, just wondering what was inside, before Gene shooed them in and shut the door. Nothing happened for a few minutes, before suddenly a bright flash emitted from the windows and the only sound was a loud scream coming from inside.

* * *

**Wow, what the hell happened to Mordecai and Rigby? Well, you're going to have to wait until next time to find out! And no, they're not dead, by the way. Just wanted to put that out there.**

**Anyway, I hope you guys have enjoyed this chapter, and I will see you guys next time where we check out how the guys at the old park are doing. See ya!**

**RK**


	6. Chapter 6

I think it's time for us to take a little break from Mordecai and Rigby's point of view, and see what's up with the other guys from the park. Enjoy!

NOTE: Ugh, I'm really sorry for the long wait. I have no excuses for it this time; I was just super goddamn lazy. For those that are worried about it, though, I would like to remind you that I have no intention of quitting on these stories, so don't worry about it. Anyway, I'm hoping to be able to get up to speed and get back on writing more than once every few weeks.

* * *

It's been a few weeks since Mordecai and Rigby left the park, and while things have gotten relatively back to normal, it felt a little too normal, as most of the monsters and other problems that the park faced every day were mostly because of the two slackers. Without them, it almost seems like the remaining employees were working at a normal park.

Speaking of the employees, they did have some difficulty getting over Mordecai and Rigby being gone, but eventually they did manage to return to normal and get back to working like they were before, but there was still a subdued air around the park.

Muscle Man was noticeably more sullen, having no one besides High-Five Ghost who was willing to hang around him for longer than five minutes, and even Fives didn't really talk to him that much. Pops was his usual cheery self, but in the back of his mind he greatly missed getting to hang out with Mordecai and Rigby. Benson meanwhile hasn't really been himself lately. Even though most people who know him would probably think he would be glad to see Mordecai and Rigby go, which really wasn't the case, as he was actually getting to like the two slackers, despite all the stress that they have caused him over the years.

So Benson has been spending most of his time at the park in his office doing paperwork, trying his best not to think of how dull life has gotten around the park, which he admittedly has had a little bit of trouble doing lately, which only managed to make his sullenness worse.

As for Thomas, he has barely spoken at all since the incident, only answering questions when he had to. Even though no one actually died from the monster attack, he still felt incredibly guilty knowing that he couldn't have done anything more to prevent Mordecai and Rigby from experiencing what they saw inside the chest.

* * *

Benson was driving around the park during one of his checkups on everyone to see how they were doing with their jobs, when he pulled up to Thomas and noticed his body language clearly showing his state of mind. Stopping the cart, he walked up to the goat and placed a hand on his shoulder.

"Thomas, what's wrong?"

"I'm okay." mumbled Thomas.

Benson sighed before continuing to speak.

"Listen, I've been keeping an eye on you for the last few weeks, and I've noticed how depressed you've been lately. I'm worried about you. Heck, everyone's been worried about you."

"I said I'm okay!" said Thomas as he turned around to face Benson.

"No, you're not Thomas! You need help, which is why I've decided to set you up for a few sessions with the same psychologist that Mordecai and Rigby were using."

Thomas was looking down at his feet at this point, so Benson grabbed both of the goat's shoulders and gave him a slight shake.

"Look at me, Thomas."

Thomas did as he was instructed, and looked up at Benson to reveal tears flowing from his eyes, before he closed them again and began sobbing. Benson, immediately sensing them coming, pulled him towards his body and began patting Thomas on the back.

"Shh, it's okay. I'm sure they don't blame you for what they went through."

A few minutes passed before Thomas finally stopped crying, and lifted himself back up to a standing position.

"You sure you're going to be alright?"

"I'll be okay. Thanks, Benson." said Thomas, wiping his eyes with his sleeve.

* * *

A few more weeks have passed, still without any noticeable incidents. Thomas went to his psychiatrist appointments, and has recently been looking much more like his old self, though he was still feeling a little guilt about the incident.

Benson, meanwhile, was actually outside his office for once, taking a break from all the paperwork he was doing. He was enjoying a cup of coffee and reading the newspaper, when he suddenly heard a knock on the front door. Curious, he walked over to the front door and opened it to reveal Margaret standing on the front porch.

"Can I help you, miss?"

"Hi, I was actually just wondering if there was any chance you may have seen Mordecai and Rigby around the area recently. They've been visiting Eileen and me at the coffee shop every so often since they got their new jobs, but they haven't shown up for a week, and I'm starting to get a little worried."

Benson paused for a moment, trying to figure out what Margaret's name was, when it suddenly hit him.

"Oh, you must be Margaret. I've heard a lot about you from Mordecai. I haven't seen either of them since they left here, though. I would like to hear how they've been, though."

"Oh, I should really be going. I don't want to intrude." said Margaret.

"Don't worry about it. Come on in and have a seat." said Benson.

Margaret did as was asked and sat down on the couch. Benson went into the kitchen and returned a few minutes later with a glass of water, which he offered to Margaret. She took the glass and sipped some of the water, before Benson started the conversation.

"So, how have Mordecai and Rigby been doing?"

"Last time I saw them, they were doing pretty good. A lot of times when they came to the coffee shop, they would spend most of the time complaining about how their new boss was being a tyrant and preventing them from leaving the area when they wanted to, so they've been forced to sneak off to be able to visit us."

"Really? Where are they working now?" asked Benson.

"East Pines."

Benson had his own glass of water, and almost did a spit take after hearing of where Mordecai and Rigby's new job was. Instead, he resisted and swallowed the water before speaking again.

"I think I might have an idea of where those two are."

"Really? How do you know?" asked Margaret.

"When you've been engaged in prank wars with Gene and his park for a long time, you can really get to know a guy like that."

Margaret looked at him, slightly confused, before Benson continued.

"Gene is someone who really likes to go to extreme measures when it comes to getting things to go his way. My guess is that Mordecai and Rigby may have been caught trying to get back on the grounds after sneaking off. Something bad must have happened to them, but I don't know what."

Margaret suddenly remembered that one day they visited and ended up being late and gasped.

"Oh god, I remember the day that happened. I hope they're alright."

"Yeah, me too." said Benson. "Anyway, I'm glad to hear that they're still in the area."

"What do you mean by that?"

"East Pines isn't too far away, so we can easily go over there and find out for ourselves what Gene's done with those two." said Benson.

"Oh, that's good. I really want to know that they're alright. So when are we going to go?" asked Margaret.

"I'd love to take you with me, but I'm afraid that East Pines is a dangerous place. I'll be getting one of the guys to come with me. Don't worry, though, we'll keep you and Eileen posted on everything."

Margaret was noticeably unhappy about being left out, but she decided not to argue about it. Instead she placed the glass of water on the table and headed out the door, thanking Benson for the water.

Benson then sat back on the couch, staring off into space with a worried look on his face, wondering what kind of depths that Gene would go to.

* * *

A few days later, Benson and Skips made their way to East Pines. As they reached the front gate, the two shared a nervous look before getting out of the cart.

"Remember, we're going to have to be careful when we're in there not to get caught." said Skips.

"I know, Skips. You're acting like I've never been here before." said Benson, slightly miffed.

"Well, it's better that you and I are prepared. Who knows what we're going to find in there?"

Benson sighed before turning towards the gate and walking inside, Skips following close behind.

The first few minutes went by without incident as Skips and Benson slowly snuck their way through the park, hoping to find Mordecai and Rigby somewhere in there. Suddenly, the alarm went off, blaring throughout the whole park.

"What happened?" asked Benson.

"I don't know! I think one of us might have tripped an invisible laser or something!" yelled Skips through the noise.

The two attempted to run back towards the entrance, intending to try again another day, when they were stopped by a ring of guards, all brandishing their guns.

Skips and Benson froze at once, before they were greeted by slow clapping as Gene made his way towards them.

"Well, look what we have here. Two trespassers from the other park. I thought we were done with that whole prank war business, but I guess I was wrong."

"Hold on, Gene. We're only here for one thing." said Benson.

"Oh yeah? What's that?"

"Where's Mordecai and Rigby?" asked Benson.

"Why, they're right here. Look around you, and you'll find them."

Benson gave Gene an unsure look, but he did as was asked and looked around the area. He scanned through each of the guards, when his eyes suddenly landed on…Mordecai and Rigby.

The two slackers were part of the group that was currently pointing their guns straight at Benson and Skips. Benson was slightly hurt for a second, before he noticed that both of them had blank stares on their face, and there was nothing inside their eyes but white. Benson turned towards Gene, angry.

"What the hell did you do to them?"

"Oh, just a little brainwashing. They were causing me a little trouble, so I decided to wipe their minds. Now they're my best workers! And now they, as well as my other guards, are going to make sure that you two never bother us again." said Gene.

Gene then lifted one of his arms and spun it around once, before pointing towards Benson and Skips. All of the guards then for some strange reason dropped their guns, before rushing into the middle of the circle.

"What are we going to do now?" asked Benson.

"We're going to have to fight our way out!" said Skips.

"What about Mordecai and Rigby?"

"We'll figure something out! Let's go!" yelled Skips, before he ran off towards the exit, punching his way through a few guards that attempted to get in his way.

Benson paused, unsure of what to do, when a guard placed his hand on Benson's shoulder and threw his fist toward the gumball machine. The guard badly telegraphed it, though, thanks to the shoulder grabbing, and Benson dodged to the side, before socking the guard in the face and running off after Skips.

It took them a few minutes, but Benson and Skips did eventually reach the exit and sped away in the cart, Gene shaking his fist at them as they disappeared over the horizon.

"So, what now?" asked Benson, after they were certain they escaped.

"Get everyone together once we get back to the park. We're going to need to get a plan together if we're going to save Mordecai and Rigby."

Benson nodded, before turning back towards the road, wondering just how in the world they were going to get those two away from Gene's clutches.

* * *

**And that's the end of this chapter! So, how are Benson and Skips going to save Mordecai and Rigby? Will Margaret ever get the chance to see if those two are okay? Those are things that you're going to have to wait until next time to find out.**

**Anyway, once again, I'm really sorry for the long wait. I don't mean to keep you guys waiting, but things happen. As I have said before, though, I'm hoping to get back to writing more, so I can keep on somewhat of a schedule with updating, so keep an eye out for that.**

**So, I'll be seeing you guys next time. Bye!**

**RK**


	7. Chapter 7

Time for a bit of action, I think. So let's see how Benson and Skips are planning to rescue Mordecai and Rigby from Gene's clutches. Enjoy!

NOTE: For those who have seen my profile, I've recently started a new fic on the Sly Cooper archive. If you're interested, go check it out and tell me what you think!

* * *

Once Benson and Skips returned to the park, Skips sent Benson off to collect the rest of the group.

"Meet me in my house when you find everyone!" he yelled as Benson drove off. Benson waved his hand to signal that he understood.

So for the next few minutes, Skips was busy pacing around his house, trying to formulate a plan to rescue Mordecai and Rigby.

Eventually, Benson returned with the entire staff in the cart with him. Apparently, once Benson told everyone about their predicament, they didn't think twice before agreeing to help.

After Benson pulled the cart over, everyone filed into Skips's house and sat down where they could find space. When the room fell quiet, Skips cleared his throat before standing up and beginning to speak.

"Alright, I'm sure you all know what we're up against. Mordecai and Rigby have been brainwashed by Gene over at East Pines, and we need to figure out how we're going to get those two out of there. I've already thought of an idea, but I want to get some ideas from you guys first. Any takers?"

Thomas raised his hand almost immediately.

"Why don't we try sneaking them out?"

"I wish it would be that easy, but if I know Gene as well as I do, I think he probably would have beefed up his security after what Skips and I did earlier." said Benson.

"Yeah, besides, I doubt Mordecai and Rigby would just up and leave in the states that they're in. I don't think we're going to be able to get them out without trouble." said Skips.

"Well, why don't we just run in and take them by force?" said Muscle Man.

Skips paused for a moment, thinking that idea over.

"I think that'll most likely be a last resort thing, but we'll keep it in mind."

"What about negotiation? I'm sure Gene would be willing to listen to reason, especially after what happened last Christmas." said Pops.

"I suppose we could give that a shot. Let's get some more plans together first before we act on it." said Benson.

"Yeah, you're right. We should get some backup plans together just in case." said Skips.

While everyone else was throwing around ideas, Thomas was thinking to himself, trying to formulate some more plans, when an idea suddenly hit him.

"Hey Fives, is there any chance that you can turn invisible?"

Fives started, not expecting to be addressed, before turning towards Thomas.

"Well yeah, but I haven't really done it in a while."

"Can you try and do it? We could use someone to sneak in and do some reconnaissance. We need to know what we're up against." said Thomas.

"Good idea, Thomas. You think you can do that, Fives?" said Skips.

"Yeah, sure. I should be able to do that."

"Great. That should help us. Any other ideas?" asked Skips.

"What about your idea, Skips? I'm interested to see what you have in mind." said Pops.

"Actually, I was thinking of something pretty similar to your idea, Pops, but a little dirtier."

"Are you talking about blackmail?" asked Muscle Man.

Skips blanched slightly before shaking his head.

"No, not blackmail. I was thinking of threatening Gene with something else. I'm not sure if it will work, but I figure we might as well give it a shot."

Benson looked around the room to see if there was still anyone with ideas. There weren't any, so he stood up and turned towards the group.

"Alright, you guys, if there aren't any more suggestions, I'd like for everyone to get to sleep a little earlier than usual. We're going to need to be prepared if we're going to successfully rescue Mordecai and Rigby from East Pines. I'll be staying here overnight, so if you have any concerns, please feel free to bring them up to me or Skips before tomorrow."

Having been dismissed, the group went their separate ways, except for Thomas, who was busy thinking to himself. Benson also noticed the sad look that the goat had on his face.

"Something wrong, Thomas?"

Thomas looked up at Benson.

"Oh, nothing. I'm just a little worried about Mordecai and Rigby."

"We all are, Thomas. We all are." said Skips.

* * *

Tomorrow soon came, and the entire park group was standing near the front gates preparing for the big rescue. Skips spent some of the free time after the meeting putting the plan together, which he relayed to the group after their arrival.

"Alright, you guys. Once we reach East Pines, we're going to need to park somewhat far from the gates so that we aren't seen. Then Fives will go in and take a look around."

Skips turned towards Fives before continuing.

"Fives, there are two things that are really important that you need to do while you're in there. You need to find out where Mordecai and Rigby are, and where Gene is. If you can think of any more important information we could use, please get it."

Fives nodded, understanding.

"Once Fives finishes with his recon, we'll walk in and intentionally trip one of the alarms. Once Gene arrives, we'll try to negotiate with him to see if he'd be willing to let Mordecai and Rigby go. If that doesn't work, then we're probably going to have to fight our way through to get to them. Everyone ready?"

"Wait, what are we going to do once we get them? I don't think any of us really knows how to bring someone back from a brainwashing." said Thomas.

"We'll cross that bridge when we get to it. Right now, we should be focusing on getting Mordecai and Rigby out of East Pines." said Benson.

Nobody else had any questions, so everyone piled into the two carts before driving off towards East Pines.

* * *

Once the group reached East Pines, they immediately went past the front gate before finally parking themselves about twenty feet down along the brick wall that lined the park. Skips lifted one of his hands up and formed a fist with it, signaling for everyone to wait. A few seconds later, Skips raised his pointer finger and pointed it forward, and Fives immediately turned invisible before floating over the wall and into the park.

No one spoke as they waited for Fives to finish with his job, everyone was anxiously waiting for their time to go in and perform the rest of the plan.

A half an hour later, Fives returned and made himself visible again. Skips raised an eyebrow, silently signaling for Fives to tell what he found out.

"Mordecai and Rigby are on the far side of the park raking leaves, and Gene was just walking down from the guard tower when I came up. He's also beefed up his security like Benson said, so we're definitely not going to be sneaking in there."

"At least it won't take too long for us to talk to Gene." said Benson.

"Come on, you guys. Let's head in." said Skips.

Everyone got out of their carts and made their way to the front gate, lining up next to it. Skips made another signal with his hand, telling everyone to stay close which they did, before they finally crossed the gateway into East Pines.

* * *

As the group made their way through the park, Benson and Skips were sweeping through the area, looking for any tripwires or other forms of security. Despite the increased security, there still was a bit of a lack of alarms so far. Eventually, though, they did manage to find a trip wire and Benson and Skips looked at each other.

"Ready, Skips?" asked Benson.

Skips nodded and looked back at the rest of the group. He didn't need to ask the question to them, though, as they all nodded. Benson looked back at the wire and walked up next to it, intending to trip it. Benson counted down in his head before kicking his foot out and breaking the wire. Immediately the alarm went off, blaring loudly.

The group waited anxiously for the guards to arrive. And sure enough, they eventually did arrive, once again pointing their guns at the group. Conspicuously absent, however, were Mordecai and Rigby. Benson hid his surprise at not seeing them in the group as Gene came in to the circle as he usually does.

"So, I guess beating up half my guards wasn't enough, huh? You want to take out the rest of them so I have no staff. Isn't that right?"

"We don't want to do anything rash, Gene. All we want is Mordecai and Rigby back." said Benson.

"I've already told you that that isn't going to happen." said Gene.

"Please, we'll give you anything." said Thomas, speaking up from the back of the group.

"Anything?"

"Yeah, anything you want." said Benson.

"Well…I'm really enjoying keeping those two away from you guys, so it's going to cost you. How about your park? Then we'll have ourselves a deal."

Skips didn't have to think twice before refusing.

"No dice, Gene. Try again."

"I'm afraid that's the only offer I have that's worth Mordecai and Rigby's freedom. Unless you can think of something worth that much, I'm afraid I'm going to have to ask you to leave."

"We're not leaving without them." said Thomas, determined.

"So be it." said Gene.

The vending machine gave them a look over for a few seconds, before turning to the ring of guards around them all.

"Get rid of them."

As Gene walked off, the circle of guards began to collapse as they began making their way to the center of the area, intending to forcibly remove the gang from the premises.

Meanwhile, the group pressed closer to each other, as they watched the guards getting closer.

"What do we do?" asked Pops, who was a nervous wreck.

"We're going to have to fight our way through to Mordecai and Rigby. On my signal, we'll split up and make our way to the back of the park. Hopefully, those two are still in the same place." said Skips.

None of the group was entirely comfortable with the plan, but they nodded and got themselves ready to go as they waited for Skips's signal.

The guards almost reached the center, when Skips finally gave the signal, and with a battle cry, the group rushed off, barreling through the line of guards and splitting up as they reached the line of trees that circled the clearing.

* * *

**And that's the end of this chapter! Next time will finally be the big battle I think you've all been waiting for. Will the guys be able to rescue Mordecai and Rigby? And what will they do if they do manage to rescue them? Those are some things that you guys are obviously going to have to wait till next time to find out.**

**Oh, and by the way, we're surprisingly coming up near the end of the story. I believe there should be about three or four chapters left (I haven't actually completely planned the rest of the story yet, but I believe it should be about that). I have to admit, it feels kind of good being almost finished with my first multi-chapter fic. I know it's pretty short, but it's still really nice.**

**Anyway, I'll see you guys next time. Bye!**

**RK**


	8. Chapter 8

Time for the final battle, you guys! Nothing really much I can say except…enjoy!

* * *

The guards, having not expected to see Benson, Skips and the others rush towards them, began firing wildly, somehow managing to completely miss them as they smashed through the line of guards in their way, sending them flying.

Once the group made it to the tree line, they immediately split up and began making their way through the park in different directions, so as to cover more ground.

Skips chose to cover the far left area of the forest. As he was busy frantically looking around the area, he managed to run into a few guards, but he barreled right through them without even breaking stride. Once Skips reached the deeper areas of the park, the guards suddenly got smarter, firing their guns at the yeti.

Even though Skips was in fact immortal, he still decided that it was best not to get hit by anything so as not to slow anyone else down once he either reached Mordecai and Rigby or met up with one of the other members of the rescue party. So, he continued running, rolling around to dodge the gunfire while simultaneously punching out guards.

Meanwhile, Benson took the next section of the forest. The guards he ended up running into didn't waste any time, pulling out guns and trying to shoot him, but Benson was having none of that. The first armed guard he ran into managed to only aim the gun at Benson when the gumball machine immediately grabbed the gun and pushed it down to the ground before socking him in the face and ripping the gun out of the falling guard's hands.

Benson took a look at the gun he had in his hands and considered using it for a second before deciding against it and tossing it into the bushes, sprinting off once again.

Pops was next up in line, covering the next area of the park, although at a much slower pace than the others. Admittedly, he could run faster, but he wanted to not miss anything when he was looking around. This unfortunately led to more encounters with guards, but it wasn't a problem for Pops. For example, one of the guards he ran into attempted to rush Pops, but the lolliman was ready, lifting him up and power slamming him to the ground, before throwing an elbow in his face to knock him out.

The constant interruptions began wearing the old man out, though. As much as Pops wanted to sit down and rest, he knew that it would only lead to trouble, so he avoided the temptation and continued on, switching his tactics to simple takedowns instead of actual lifting slams.

Thomas was in the next section over, heading in a straight line towards the back of the park while looking around for Mordecai and Rigby. By sheer chance, Gene just happened to be a few feet behind him, chasing after the goat. You see, after the rescue crew escaped the clearing and Gene sent the guards after them, he noticed that none of the guards were chasing after Thomas, probably thinking he wasn't an issue thanks to him being the new guy. Annoyed, he decided to take it upon himself to go after Thomas, and ran off.

As for Thomas himself, he was aware that Gene was after him, and believing that he probably would have no chance against him in a fistfight (Gene being made of glass and metal and all), he decided it would be best just to run away. So he continued frantically running away from Gene, dodging trees and hopping over branches while double-tasking and looking around for Mordecai and Rigby.

Meanwhile, Muscle Man and High-Five Ghost decided to stay together and cover the last section of the park. Fives was floating higher in the air than normal to get a better view of the area, while Muscle Man was busy covering the ground. Muscle Man didn't really have too many problems with guards either, especially with Fives around to help. The two of them managed to figure out an efficient way of taking out the guards. Muscle Man would punch the guard in the gut, and then Fives would immediately float down towards the guard and uppercut him, which worked most of the time, except for one intimidating-looking guard they ran into after getting really deep into the park.

"Fives, we've got another one!" yelled Muscle Man as the guard came up into their view.

"Got it!" replied Fives, who began speeding down towards the guard.

The two of them managed to pull off the move successfully, but the guard didn't actually fall down. Instead, he just faced towards Muscle Man and smiled. Muscle Man was frantically looking around, trying to find something stronger to hit him with.

As Muscle Man was busy dodging punches from the guard and throwing some of his own, Fives actually managed to find a pretty hefty rock a few feet away.

"I found something, Muscle Man!"

"Great, toss it here!"

Fives did as he was asked, and Muscle Man caught the rock, before immediately swinging and hitting the guard in the face, sending some teeth flying out of the guard's mouth.

Muscle Man paused, thinking that it didn't work, but eventually the guard did collapse to the ground knocked out. After wincing a bit at the damage he did to the guard's face, he rushed off to continue his search.

* * *

As the chaos went on throughout the park, Mordecai and Rigby were silently raking leaves a few feet from the cave they went into during the Christmas incident. Both of them were still staring into space with their eyes still quite blank and glazed over, but somehow they managed to get close to completing the job at a pretty efficient pace.

However, the peace and quiet in their area of the park was suddenly broken when Thomas suddenly popped out of the line of trees a few feet away. The goat paused as he tried to get his bearings, when his eyes suddenly landed on the brainwashed duo. Ecstatic that he finally found the two slackers, he rushed towards them, only to end up tripping over a branch that he failed to notice.

Stunned, Thomas could only watch as Gene sauntered over to Mordecai and Rigby and looked back at Thomas, smirking.

"So close, and yet so far. How does it feel to know that you were only a few feet away from taking these two from me?" said Gene.

Thomas wasn't able to reply, as he couldn't quite get his mouth working in his stunned state. Instead he chose to glare at Gene, but it came out more as a pained grimace.

Before Gene could continue gloating, a guard suddenly came flying into the area from the tree line, somehow still carrying his rifle with him. The gun went sailing out of hands when he landed, though, and slid along the ground to land a few feet away from Gene.

A few seconds after the gun came to a stop, Skips popped out from the trees, followed by Benson, Pops and the rest of the group a few seconds apart. Skips's eyes took in the scene in front of him, first noticing the presence of Mordecai and Rigby, before finding Thomas getting up from the ground, having recovered from his spell. Soon, Skips and the rest of the group joined up with Thomas.

"You okay, Thomas?" asked Benson.

"Yeah, I'm fine. Thanks."

"Well, it looks like the gang's all back together again!" said Gene, interrupting the group's conversation.

Thomas looked up at Gene to find the vending machine pointing the rifle at Mordecai and Rigby while the two of them continued to calmly rake the leaves. The goat's jaw dropped as he realized just what kind of lengths Gene would go down to keep Mordecai and Rigby with him.

"Gene, no! We can talk about this." said Skips.

"What's there to talk about? You didn't take the only offer I had for you, so I figure that if I can't have him, then no one will." said Gene.

While the rest of the group was busy trying to distract Gene from following through with his threat to kill Mordecai and Rigby, Benson was busy trying to formulate a plan in his head. Eventually, one popped into his head, and he turned towards the group.

"High-Five Ghost, I need to talk to you in private. The rest of you, keep talking to Gene. Make sure he doesn't fire that gun."

The group nodded, before turning back to Gene, who had a slight look of confusion on his face as he looked at the group. Fives, meanwhile, followed Benson as they walked a few feet away from the scene.

"Hey Fives, do you think you can pull off that invisibility trick again?"

"Sure, why?" asked Fives.

"I need you to turn invisible and get behind Gene. I'll try to get closer to him to get that gun away from him. Once I give you the signal, I want you to turn visible again and try your best to scare the heck out of him. That should give me enough time to disarm him. Got it?"

Fives nodded, before the both of them returned to the group.

Once they returned to the scene, Fives hid behind Muscle Man as he turned invisible. However, before he could float over behind Gene, Benson suddenly noticed something wrong with the scene before them.

"Where's Thomas?"

Everyone began looking around, somehow not noticing that the goat has gone missing until now.

"It looks like your goat friend has flown the coop! I figured that guy was a coward." said Gene.

Little did the vending machine know, Thomas actually managed to sneak off while Benson was busy talking to Fives, and was now right behind Gene, Mordecai and Rigby. Once the group noticed his disappearance, Thomas reacted instinctively and sprang up from his hiding spot, jumping on Gene's back and covering his eyes, preventing him from seeing where he was.

Benson, meanwhile, was taken off guard for a moment from Thomas's appearance, but he refocused soon after, rushing towards Gene and grabbing the gun. Gene wasn't going to give up without a fight, though, refusing to give up the gun, even while he was completely blind. However, once the rest of the group joined in, Gene didn't have much of a chance. Skips took the vending machine down to the ground after Thomas jumped off, and Benson finally took control of the gun, pointing the rifle at Gene.

"Don't move!" yelled Benson.

Even though Gene couldn't see, with his face being flat against the ground, he was pretty sure that Benson had the gun trained on him, so he stayed still.

"Now, we're going to take Mordecai and Rigby and go back to the park, and if you even think of coming to try and take them back, I won't hesitate to put you six feet under." said Benson.

Gene was well aware that it was an empty threat, but he didn't want to push his luck, so he didn't make a move.

* * *

As Benson kept the gun trained on Gene, Skips and the others were looking at Mordecai and Rigby continuing to calmly rake leaves.

"So, what do we do now?" asked Thomas.

"We take them home." said Muscle Man, sounding as if it was obvious.

"I know, but it's not like they're going to simply walk home with us."

Thomas turned towards Skips.

"Do you have any ideas, Skips?"

The yeti didn't immediately answer, as he was busy thinking.

"I think the only thing we can really do right now is knock them out. Come to think of it, that should probably help us out as well when we work on trying to bring them back from the brainwashing."

"Sounds good." said Thomas.

Skips turned towards Benson, calling out to him.

"Hey, Benson!"

"Yeah, Skips?"

"We're going to need to borrow that gun for a bit."

"Why? I kind of need to keep Gene under watch here."

"We need to knock Mordecai and Rigby out so we can get them out of here. And you can just sit on him. It's not like he can get up on his own."

Benson reluctantly tossed the gun to Skips before sitting down on top of Gene, who luckily was still unable to get up.

Skips paused for a second as he held the gun, unsure if he should really go through with what he was thinking of doing. Eventually, he decided it was most likely going to be the only way he could do it and raised the butt of the gun towards the two groundskeepers.

"Sorry, you guys."

After apologizing in advance, Skips swung the gun barrel twice in quick succession, successfully knocking out both Mordecai and Rigby. Skips then turned towards Thomas.

"Grab Rigby and let's get out of here."

He then signaled to Benson that they were leaving before picking up Mordecai and slinging him over his shoulder.

As the group made their way back to the entrance of East Pines, the big question on each of their minds was just how they were going to be able to bring Mordecai and Rigby back to their old selves. None of them really knew, but they were going to have to figure it out if they want them back.

* * *

**And that's the end of this chapter! I've been messing around a bit with how I depict fight scenes since the last time I did one god knows how long ago, so I'm hoping that you guys are really able to get into the details of how it went down. Let me know what you think of it, because I may tweak it again next time I do a fight scene to make it even better.**

**Anyway, next time's going to be the final official chapter. (Don't worry; there'll be an epilogue, too.) I'm really happy that you guys have enjoyed this story through the whole ride. While I did have fun writing it, and I admit I'll miss it when it's done, I'm really glad that it's gotten as well-liked as it has.**

**So, before I begin rambling, I think I'll probably stop things right here. See you guys next time. Bye!**

**RK**


	9. Chapter 9

One more chapter to go after this, you guys! I don't know about you, but I'm finally excited to finish this.

* * *

The cart ride back to the park was completely silent, as none of the group really knew what they wanted to say. Muscle Man, High Five Ghost and Pops were leading the way home in one of the carts, while Benson, Skips and Thomas were in the other cart, along with the still KO'ed Mordecai and Rigby. While Skips was concentrating on the road, Thomas took up the task of keeping an eye on the two groundskeepers to make sure that they don't fall out of the cart.

Eventually, they all managed to make it back to the park, and Thomas and Benson took care of picking up Mordecai and Rigby.

"Take them inside and put them both down on the couch. I need to go run over to my house and grab a few things." said Skips, before he ran off.

The rest of the group followed what Skips asked them to do, and went inside the house, before placing Mordecai and Rigby next to each other on the couch.

As they waited for Skips to return, the group sat silently until Muscle Man decided to speak up.

"Hey, shouldn't we probably be taking off all of that East Pines stuff that those two have on? I don't think having them still wearing it while we're trying to fix them would be a good idea."

Benson paused, thinking over his options.

"I don't know if it'll really make a huge difference, but I guess we might as well do it. Any volunteers?"

None of them raised their hands, as an awkward silence pervaded through the room.

"Oh come on, you guys. No one will think any less of you for stripping clothes off of another guy."

There were still no volunteers.

"Alright, fine! I'll do it." said Benson.

The gumball machine began walking over to the two to begin removing all of the East Pines clothes, when Thomas suddenly stood up.

"I'll give you a hand, Benson."

Benson, surprised, simply nodded and took Rigby, while Thomas took care of Mordecai. Both of them wore grimaces on their faces, realizing just how awkward this was, but they persisted, eventually removing all of their clothes, leaving Mordecai and Rigby looking just like their normal selves.

"So, what are we going to do about the uniforms?" asked Pops.

Benson gave it a bit of thought before answering.

"Would you mind running to get me a garbage bag? We're going to go put these in the dumpster where they belong."

"Aw man, I wanted to watch those babies burn!" said Muscle Man emphatically.

"I would too, but I don't think Mr. Maellard would be too thrilled to see a fire being built inside the park."

"Awww, lame." said Muscle Man.

Pops ran off into the kitchen, returning a few minutes later with an open garbage bag, which Benson put the uniforms into.

"I'll be right back, you guys."

A few seconds after Benson left, Skips finally returned, carrying a large bag with him that he set down on the floor next to the couch. Once he laid eyes on Mordecai and Rigby, noticing that they were in fact naked, Skips looked questioningly at the group, who all immediately pointed at Muscle Man.

"Not that I'm really complaining, but is there any reason why you decided to strip Mordecai and Rigby of all of their clothes?"

"Well, I'm sure no one wants to see them wearing all that East Pines crap on them. Am I right, you guys?"

Everyone else in the room nodded, agreeing with Muscle Man. Skips shrugged, before turning towards Mordecai and Rigby. Before he could do anything else, Benson returned from his trip to the dumpster.

"Oh Skips, you're back. So, do you have any ideas on how we can return Mordecai and Rigby to normal?"

"Well, first things first, we're going to have to wake them up. Then we'll go from there."

It turns out they didn't need to worry about that, though, as at that moment, Mordecai and Rigby both returned to consciousness. Everyone else was taken off guard for a moment, but they eventually realized what just happened and crowded around the blue jay and raccoon, waiting with bated breath to see what happens.

"Mordecai? Rigby? Are you guys alright?" asked Benson, thinking that they didn't need to worry about breaking them out of their brainwashing anymore.

"Huh? Who are you guys talking about?" asked Mordecai, confused.

"Yeah, and who are you guys anyway?" asked Rigby.

There was a collective sigh of discontent in the room, as the rest of the group realized that it wasn't going to be as easy as they thought.

"Do you know what's going on, Skips?" asked Pops.

Skips thought for a moment, trying to figure out what happened.

"It seems that knocking them out managed to somehow break the control that Gene had over these two, but I believe that they may still have some form of amnesia."

"So what do we do now?" asked Thomas.

"Isn't it obvious? We're going to have to show them some of the things they've done since they started working here, and hopefully it'll jar their memories." said Benson.

"Alright, you guys. Go have a look around the house and see if you can find things that might help jar Mordecai and Rigby's memories." said Skips.

"Wait, didn't those two pack anything before they left?" asked High-Five Ghost.

"Actually, no. Their room is exactly how it was left on the day they quit. I guess they wanted a fresh start, so they left all of their old stuff behind." said Benson.

Having had their jobs given to them, the group was about to split up and head into the different areas of the house, when suddenly Mordecai spoke up.

"Excuse me! Can somebody please explain to me what the heck is going on?"

The rest of the group looked at each other, unsure of what to do, before Benson spoke up.

"You guys go ahead. I'll talk to these two."

* * *

While everyone was busy in their own sections of the house searching for things to help Mordecai and Rigby, Thomas decided to head towards their room and see what he could find in there, thinking that would probably be the most likely place to find something important.

As he searched through their closet, he suddenly realized that he doesn't really have much to go on, considering he only began working at the park a few months ago, compared to Mordecai and Rigby who probably had a few years more experience than him.

He wasn't going to let something like that stop him, though. So he continued searching through the closet, hoping to find the one thing that can jog Mordecai and Rigby's memories. Unfortunately, there was no light in the closet, so Thomas was forced to feel his way around the inside of the closet.

The search came up mostly empty, as Thomas grabbed random things which he thought would work, until he noticed a loose floorboard near the back wall of the closet. Intrigued, Thomas slipped his fingers in the open space between floorboards and lifted the board, revealing a video tape underneath. Thomas picked up the tape and removed the slip cover, turning it over to read the label.

"Carrey O'Key's?" said Thomas to himself.

Shrugging, the goat tossed it on the pile of things he could use before exiting the closet and continuing his search.

Eventually, the pile of things grew pretty large, making it difficult for Thomas to carry everything downstairs, but he did manage to do it.

* * *

Apparently Thomas must have taken a while looking through Mordecai and Rigby's room, as the rest of the group was sitting around in the living room, looking as if they were unsure of what else to do.

"So, how have things worked out so far?" asked Thomas.

"We've managed to trigger some things in Mordecai and Rigby's memories, but they're still not completely back to normal yet." said Skips.

Thomas nodded, understanding where they were currently at, before he turned towards his pile of things, thinking about what he was going to try first. Eventually, he decided on a CD that was buried pretty deep in the pile. He pulled out the boom box that Mordecai and Rigby had in their room and plugged it in, before placing the CD in it and hitting play.

As the music began playing, everyone except Mordecai and Rigby were suddenly confused, wondering what they were hearing. Mordecai was listening to it intently, while Rigby somehow managed to fall asleep.

"Who's this band that's playing?" asked Mordecai.

Thomas was currently trying to wake up Rigby, but he turned towards Mordecai and replied.

"The CD said Brain Explosion on it. Never heard of the band before, but I figured it might do something."

Mordecai nodded, before he was suddenly hit with a splitting headache. As he clutched at his head, the rest of the group looked on excitedly.

"I think it's working, Thomas! Try something else!" said Pops.

Thomas did as was asked; slowly making his way through the pile, as he showed each of the things he brought to Mordecai and Rigby. Some did nothing to them, but some of them did trigger something within their minds.

Soon, Mordecai and Rigby were left panting after having gone through so much in this small period of time, but the rest of the group wouldn't be deterred. They all figured that Mordecai and Rigby were finally close to breaking through, and they hoped that one more thing would finally return them to normal.

The last thing in Thomas's pile that he hadn't already shown turned out to be the videotape. The goat slipped it out of the cover and inserted it into the VCR.

"Wait, where did you get that video from?" asked Benson.

"I found it under a loose floorboard in their closet. It said Carrey O'Key's on it."

Benson was intrigued after hearing Thomas's answer, but he chose not to pry more into it. Instead, he motioned for Thomas to play the video, which the goat did, before standing off to the side and beginning to watch the video.

As the videotaped Mordecai and Rigby began trashing their coworkers while on the stage, Thomas looked around at the others, who had varying looks on their faces. Benson's gumballs were turning red, Skips had a stern look on his face, and everyone else besides Mordecai and Rigby was slightly confused.

Speaking of Mordecai and Rigby, they were both hit with another pair of splitting headaches, before finally passing out from the pain.

Worried, Thomas rushed over to them, thinking he might have done something wrong, but as he looked at them, he noticed that they were both breathing, so he sighed and sat down on the floor, relieved.

As Benson left to go cool off, everyone else looked at each other.

"So, what do we do now?" asked Fives.

"We wait. Hopefully, once they wake up, they'll be back to normal." said Skips.

* * *

The group ended up having to wait for another hour before Mordecai and Rigby woke up once again. By that time, Benson returned noticeably calmer than before, but he still looked pretty tense, not answering anyone's questions.

Once the two woke up, everyone once again crowded around Mordecai and Rigby, waiting to see what happened.

"Mordecai? Rigby? You guys back to normal?" asked Skips.

"Yeah. Why wouldn't we be?" asked Mordecai, confused.

"Hang on. Why are we back at the house? I thought we left." said Rigby, also incredibly confused.

Rigby didn't get his answer, as everyone jumped up and celebrated, hugging the two of them. Annoyed, Rigby stood up on the couch and yelled.

"STOP TALKKKIIINNNGGG!"

As Rigby began breathing angrily, the noise began quieting down. Once everyone stopped their chatter, Rigby calmed down and asked his question once again.

"Alright, can someone please explain to me why Mordecai and I are suddenly here, when the last thing I remember happening was being at East Pines?"

"Gene brainwashed you two and made you into his slaves. We found out and we went ahead and rescued you guys from him." said Thomas.

"Wow, really? I didn't really expect something like that to happen." said Mordecai.

It devolved into idle chatter for the next few moments, as Mordecai and Rigby were busy trying to catch up with everyone else, when Benson suddenly decided to speak up.

"As much as I don't really want to rehire you guys after the video you guys hid from me…"

"Wait, what video?" interrupted Mordecai.

"The video from the karaoke place you two got us thrown out of!" yelled Benson.

Mordecai sat there for a second, not sure what Benson was talking about, before it suddenly dawned on him, and he turned towards Rigby.

"I thought you got rid of that tape!"

"Well, yeah, but I didn't want to just throw it out. I wanted to hang on to it for posterity, so I hid it under the floorboards." said Rigby.

Mordecai, exasperated, simply punched Rigby in the arm. As the raccoon rubbed his arm in pain, Benson finally got the opportunity to finish his sentence.

"Anyway, as much as I really don't want to at the moment, we still have your original jobs open for you if you want to come back. What do you guys think? Do you want to work with us again?"

* * *

**Oooohhh! Cliffhanger! Will Mordecai and Rigby come back to work at the park? That's something you're going to have to wait till next time to find out.**

**Anyway, as far as the big story is concerned, it's pretty much done and dusted. But as I have said before, there will be an epilogue, along with the official Chapter 10, but that will probably be pretty short as it's most likely only going to contain Mordecai and Rigby's decision and a bit of aftermath, so I'm just going to combine those together into one document. They'll still be split, though.**

**So, I'm hoping that I will be seeing you guys next time for the finale of Breaking Point! See ya.**

**RK**


	10. Chapter 10 and Epilogue

I've decided, since I've kind of hit a wall with Death of Morality, and I don't really feel like working on any of the other fics at the moment (I'll get back to them after this), I'm going to give you guys the final chapter of Breaking Point earlier than expected. So enjoy!

P.S. I'm also going to be sharing some of my final thoughts at the end of the chapter, so keep an eye out for those.

* * *

**Chapter 10**

"So, what you do you guys think? Do you want to work with us again?"

Mordecai and Rigby froze after hearing of Benson's offer. Neither of them was prepared to make that kind of decision, especially after the ordeal that they went through over the past few weeks.

After giving each other a nervous look, Mordecai decided to be the one to speak up.

"Uh, could you excuse us for a moment? We need to discuss this in private."

Benson sighed before replying.

"Sure, Mordecai. Come find me when you guys have made your decision."

The group then dispersed, each going their separate ways as Mordecai and Rigby went upstairs to their room.

* * *

Rigby didn't waste any time once Mordecai shut the door behind him.

"I want to work here again."

"Really? You seem eager to come back." said Mordecai.

"Well, yeah. It's either here or move out of the city, and I certainly don't want to have to leave the only place I've known my whole life."

"Okay, fair enough. But what about the monster problems? I don't know about you, but I don't want to have to go through something like what happened with the last one."

"We've never had any problems dealing with any of the other incidents that have happened here since we've started. And besides, that dog thing is at the bottom of the lake locked tight in the chest. No one's going to be stupid enough to try to retrieve it."

"I dunno, dude. What makes you think that the next monster or evil guy that comes here wouldn't finally finish us off?"

Rigby, exasperated, jumped up on Mordecai's bed before beckoning the blue jay over and placing his hands on his shoulders.

"Listen, Mordecai. You and I aren't alone in this. Whenever we need help, there's always someone who can provide it. Skips is here. Benson is here. Muscle Man, High-Fives and Pops are here. Heck, even Thomas is here. Don't forget that."

Mordecai paused, looking down at the ground as he thought about what Rigby said. Once Mordecai lifted his head again, he had a look of understanding on his face.

"You know, you're right, dude. All I've ever been thinking about for all this time was my own health. I should have realized that I've had people who genuinely care about you and I, even though they have different ways of showing it. God, I feel so stupid right now."

"Don't worry about it, bro. Everyone makes mistakes sometimes. So, have you made your decision?" asked Rigby.

Mordecai stood up, a look of finality on his face.

"Yes. Yes I have."

Mordecai immediately turned around, preparing to exit their room and go find Benson. But once he opened the door, Thomas came crashing on to the ground, having had his ear pressed against the door.

"Uh, hey guys." said Thomas from the ground, an awkward smile on his face.

"Thomas? What are you doing up here?" asked Mordecai.

"Oh, uh…I had to run to the bathroom, and I heard you guys talking as I was coming out. Sorry."

"Don't worry about it, dude. We were just going to find Benson." said Rigby.

"Really? Are you guys coming back?" asked Thomas, intrigued.

"Yeah. I figured I was being kind of stupid thinking only about my own safety, when I've got you guys here." said Mordecai.

"And I didn't really want to have to leave town. So yeah, there you go." said Rigby.

"That's awesome! I'll go spread the news." said Thomas, before leaving.

"Yeah, you do that." said Mordecai to himself.

Once Thomas left, Mordecai and Rigby also made their way out the door and downstairs, looking for Benson to tell him the good news.

* * *

**Epilogue**

It's been a few weeks since Mordecai and Rigby finally returned to work at the park they knew and loved. Benson wasn't incredibly thrilled with the prospect of having those two back, but he did give them a warm smile when he welcomed them back to the job, knowing that things will finally be able to get back to normal.

And back to normal it did get, as Mordecai and Rigby returned to their usual slacker ways as if nothing has ever happened. However, Benson surprisingly gave them a bit more leniency than normal. Mind you, it wasn't much. He still yelled at them quite a bit, but he didn't threaten to fire them as much as before.

Muscle Man and High Fives were their usual selves, messing around with everyone in the park, playing pranks and spouting off My Mom jokes every chance they could get. Even though they and Mordecai and Rigby weren't exactly the best of friends, Muscle Man was noticeably warmer towards them, even going as far as to have friendly chats with them, which Mordecai and Rigby were only too happy to go along with.

Once Pops heard from Thomas about Mordecai and Rigby's reinstatement, he was positively giddy. Not only did he get part of their extended family back, he managed to get two really good friends back. They were really starting to hit it off and spend more time together before the incident, and Pops was glad to have them back. He did appreciate spending some time with the other guys (especially Skips), but it was never really the same to Pops.

Speaking of Skips, he actually was with Benson when Mordecai and Rigby agreed to return to work here, so he was actually able to hear Mordecai's entire explanation for his decision. Even though it didn't really show on his face, it did warm his heart considerably to know that someone like Mordecai really appreciates having friends and family around to help him with his needs.

Thomas, meanwhile, seemed to have gone through the most changes during the whole ordeal. Before, he was noticeably timid and awkward, not really being able to mesh personalities with some of the other guys, especially considering he was only an intern and never really had much of a chance to interact with anyone else outside of the work shift. Also, the fact that he was technically underage didn't really help matters, as he was unable to join the rest of the group when they went out to some places like the bar. But anyway, after everything that's happened, Thomas finally managed to open up more, talking animatedly with whomever he happened to be paired with for the work shift. Some of the guys, like Muscle Man, weren't exactly too into the new and improved Thomas, but everyone else was glad to see someone like him become more open.

As for Mordecai and Rigby themselves, they've mostly returned to normal, except for the fact that Mordecai was noticeably more timid when it came to fighting the monster/bad guy of the day. Even though he knew in his mind that he shouldn't be worrying about getting killed with everyone else helping out, he couldn't really stop thinking of the possibility that it could happen. It's gotten to the point where it was starting to worry Rigby, so he went ahead and asked Benson if Mordecai could get some help from the psychiatrist that they had before. Benson refused at first, not wanting to spend any more money on something not park-related, but he eventually begrudgingly agreed after Rigby resorted to whining.

It turns out that Rigby also ended up having to convince Mordecai as well of the benefits of talking to a psychiatrist as well, as the blue jay wasn't in to the idea of going back.

"Come on, you guys! I'm fine!"

"No, you're not, dude. I've told you before that you're safe and sound with all of us here to help, but I don't think you've completely realized that yet. The only way you will is to talk to the psychiatrist." said Rigby.

"Rigby's right, Mordecai. We've always made sure that you guys don't get yourselves killed doing all of the crap you've been doing since you first started working here. What makes you think that we would suddenly stop for no reason?" asked Benson.

Mordecai sighed, defeated.

"Fine, I'll go. I don't know how this is going to help, though."

Mordecai did end up going as promised, and despite his reservations with the idea, he was actually beginning to pull through after a few sessions, and once they finished, Mordecai was finally back to normal, rushing into battle without any worries holding him back.

Margaret and Eileen also came to the park after hearing of Mordecai and Rigby's return. Both of them were quite happy to see the boys alive and well, and Mordecai actually managed to put together a date for the four of them to be able to catch up without their jobs getting in the way. So, before the girls left, they set a date, and Mordecai immediately began counting down the days in his head.

Speaking of the date, it went pretty smoothly. The four of them went to Cheezer's and simply talked with each other about what all happened during the boys' time spent in East Pines while enjoying their grilled cheese sandwiches.

So, outside of Thomas's change in personality, everything has pretty much returned to normal inside the park.

As for East Pines, they've also mostly remained the same. Gene was his usual blowhard self, although he was smart to avoid causing any trouble with the other park. So most of his time was spent inside the boundaries of East Pines, only exiting every once in a while. Gene also ended up having to go through a shortage of workers, as most of the guards that Skips and the gang beat up ended up having to spend time in the hospital, which ended up stretching him thin.

So, all in all, things for the most part have turned out quite alright. Everyone's back to their usual selves and no one seems to be any worse for the wear, although Mordecai and Rigby will never forget the journey they both have taken over their breaking point.

* * *

**Afterword**

Wow, it's finally over. I just checked the listing while I'm writing this, and I'm surprised to find that it took me eight months to finish this story. I mean damn, dude. Time flies when you're having fun, or being lazy. To think, this came from a completely random idea that popped into my head while watching Regular Show on vacation. Kind of weird how well things go sometimes, huh?

Well, admittedly, now that I'm actually finished with this, I'll admit that I'm actually going to miss this. I had a huge amount of fun writing it, even though the first half of the story was really damn depressing. Even through all the random bouts of laziness that I went through since starting this fic (and others), I still never thought of this as a chore.

Hell, I truly believe that this is currently my best work, at least coming from the 25 reviews I've gotten for the first nine chapters. All of them were positive. Some of them were even more positive than I ever really ever could have imagined. I think I have a lot to live up to with my other fics. Here's hoping for the best.

Speaking of you guys, I couldn't have done this without you all. Without all of the support I've been given (especially from NeoNimbus, who's reviewed every chapter), I probably would have still finished (considering it's only ten chapters), but I don't think I would have done nearly as good a job as I did, so thanks everyone!

So anyway, I'm really happy that you guys have stuck with me through the whole journey of Breaking Point, and I'll see you guys on the next fic. I have to go decide now which fic I want to bring out of hiatus. Bye!

RK


End file.
